In recent years, digital cameras (imaging apparatus, imaging device or image sensing apparatuses) capable of photographing an image by a simple operation and converting the image into digital image data have widely been used. To print an image photographed by this camera and use the print as a photograph, the photographed digital image data is temporarily input from the digital camera to a PC (computer), and undergoes image processing by the PC. The processed data is then output from the PC to a color printer, which prints the data.
To the contrary, there have been developed color print systems capable of directly transferring digital image data from a digital camera to a color printer and printing the data without the mediacy of any PC, and so-called photo-direct (PD) printers capable of directly mounting in a color printer a memory card which is mounted in a digital camera and stores a sensed image, and printing the photographed image stored in the memory card.
Especially, in a case where digital image data photographed by a digital camera is directly transmitted to a color printer and printed, there is a case in which a plurality of images are printed in one sheet. In this case, the digital camera sends in series image data with a control code designating “presence/absence of next image” to the color printer. The color printer receives the image data and automatically initiates a printing operation of the received image data when the number of images representing by the received image data reaches a maximum number to be printed on the sheet, and prints the number of images on the sheet.
For, example, in a case where the image data is read from different image files, each of which stores a plurality of items of image data, and printed, when the last image data of an image file is read out and transmitted to the color printer, the control data of the last image data indicates “absence of next image”. Therefore, the color printer received the last image data develops the last image data and starts printing of the image data that has bee received before then, because the control data designates “absence of next image”. As the result, it is possible that the printed sheet does not include the maximum number of images to be printed on the sheet, e.g., a printing mode for printing 4 images on one sheet is set, but only 1 or 2 images are possible to be printed on the sheet. To prevent from the case, a new control command designating a discharge of printed sheet may be added instead of the control code designating “presence/absence of next image”, but adding the new command instead of the control code causes a large amount of change of design.